Ironbutt and then some

[Dave77459]

My wife flew this past weekend to Denver to visit her sister. Playing around with MapSource, I saw that it was 1070ish miles from Houston to there. I'd wanted to ride an ironbutt for some time, so I took this opportunity and did it.

 

I left Houston around 5AM on Thursday, headed to Lubbock for lunch. My son is a freshman at Texas Tech, and it was a chance to see him. Lubbock is about halfway on the route I'd plotted, so I figured it would take 9 hours to get there. I was about right, getting there about 2:30. We lunched at Orlando's Italian Restaurant, because Texas Monthly had recently judged their's the 10th best burger in Texas.[1]

 

From there I went to Denver via Raton. I took this chance to try out the sheepskin I had bought at IKEA for $30. It rained most of the way to Lubbock, but was sunny from there out. Great sheepskin weather. Or so I thought.[2]

 

Even though it wasn't raining, it was blowing hard. Hard enough that my bike thought I was doing 95mph and my mpg suffered. I saw another post today where someone gets more than 39mpg. I rarely will break 35mpg, and with the headwind and climbing in elevation, I got closer to 25mpg.

 

The worst of the trip was the trip over Raton Pass. My legs hurt, I couldn't get comfortable, and the temperature dropped like a stone. My windscreen and headlamps were plastered with bugs when I finally pulled into Raton. I warmed up a little in the gas station and pressed on, within smelling distance of Colorado.

 

I finally arrived at my sister-in-law's at 11:15 local, 12:30AM my time. I'd gone 1063 miles by the GPS, in 19.5 hours. They say it typically takes 18 hours, and I spent an hour with my son in Lubbock. I also stopped for gas about every 80 miles.

 

My wife's flight was delayed, and she arrived 15 minutes after I did. She found me asleep in the rocking chair that I'd sat in to wait for her. LOL

 

Even being tuckered, I woke up on auto-pilot at 8AM. By 10AM, my wife and I were heading to Wyoming for lunch. And to "color in my map". I planned to hit WY, NE, and KS, but we ran short of time--dinner was waiting. Had I pushed a little harder, I could have made the 1500 miles in 36 hour "Butt Burner". Oh well.

 

The next day, Saturday, I headed home. I went out of my way to pick up Kansas. That's a pretty state. With no need to push it, I stopped at Wichita Falls, TX. I'd been in CO, KS, OK, and then TX. I like riding at night, so I was tempted to push on. But when I saw the ETA creep over 2AM, and I kept getting hit by large wet bugs, I stopped.

 

Sunday was an easy ride home. Got there around 2PM. Final tally for the trip was 2637 miles.

 

Notes: [1] - No way is that the 10th best burger in TX. Texas Monthly is plain wrong. They also gave something like 15 of the best burgers to Austin, and practically ignored Houston. This would be closer to the 50th spot in any list I made. I ought to do that.

 

[2] - The sheepskin. Yeah, it's wrong for me when I am using luggage. It's nice and cushy to start, but then it pushed me to ride on the tank. It also rode up and pressed on my tailbone. I was much happier ignoring it when riding with the luggage, and sticking with my "Butt Butler" seat. That is comfy all day long.

 

Pictures follow. If you want to see bigger versions, I can scare up a link to my Flickr account.

 

Dave

[DragonRider]

That some ride you had, and you even beat your wife there..............great pics, love the one of your bike and the jackrabbit.................

[LilBeaver]

Terrific! Sounds like you had a great ride

And Orlandos, really? Yikes.. Texas Land and Cattle is the way to go here in town...

 

 

Glad you had a great trip

[Wanderer]

Good on ya! I need to get out one weekend and just go.

[Dave77459]

That some ride you had, and you even beat your wife there..............great pics, love the one of your bike and the jackrabbit.................

 

Thanks! I like taking pictures of Roxie. I guess I ought to add them here...?

 

Terrific! Sounds like you had a great ride

And Orlandos, really? Yikes.. Texas Land and Cattle is the way to go here in town...

 

 

Glad you had a great trip

 

I went to Orlando's (on Avenue Q) because Texas Monthly rated the burger so highly. I'll do TLC when I am up there next weekend for Family Weekend.

 

Sorry I missed you this weekend.

 

Good on ya! I need to get out one weekend and just go.

 

If you do go out one weekend, I advise doing a loop. Riding somewhere 1000 miles away means you have those same 1000 miles to return home, when you are a bit sore.

 

Dave

[slick97spirit]

The texas sunset was a really great photo, but the shadow pic with no hands, classic. Never would have thought of that one.

[LilBeaver]

I went to Orlando's (on Avenue Q) because Texas Monthly rated the burger so highly. I'll do TLC when I am up there next weekend for Family Weekend.

 

Sorry I missed you this weekend.

 

I do not know how some of those magazines come up with those ratings anyways... Although there is one off of Indiana, closer to the mall that I suspect is better. I have found that the food and service on the west side of town tends to be a bit better... But yea, they are a little pricey but I am pretty sure that you will not be disappointed at TLC.

 

No problem - I'm glad you had a great trip! We'll meet up one of these days - I'll be here for a few more years.

[distancerider]

Hey man.. Thanks for taking the time to write about it and post the pictures. Great little read in the middle of my day.